Arranged Catastrophe
by Do The Cool Whip
Summary: Is it possible to have a happy arranged marriage? Yes. Is it possible to learn to love someone you can't stand? Yes. Is this possible if you both have possessive and angry lovers? Maybe. What if you all have to live in the same house and are always at war
1. Prologue or Why Me!

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!

Full Summary: Is it possible to have a happy arranged marriage? Yes. Is it possible to learn to love someone you can't stand? Yes. Is this possible if you both have possessive and angry lovers? Maybe. What if you all have to live in the same house and are always at war? Bakura and Ryou are about to find out.

**

* * *

To: Akatsuki Bakura**

Subject: Emergency "Hi!"

Hey, Bakura! I know I haven't been keeping up with our e-mails lately, but in my defense you haven't made much of an attempt either! Anyways, this is a lame attempt at sending you important information without making the situation too awkward. Needless to say, I don't think it's working.

Now, onto more important matters. Despite the fact that we decided not to contact each other (for obvious reasons) my father doesn't think that's the case, and so he felt the need to inform me why we have legal citizenship in Canada. It turns out that though it's illegal to have a gay marriage here in Japan, though law bends a bit if you have a legal certificate from another country. Did you know gay marriages are legal in Canada?

Anyways, I just needed to let you know that we need a plan to get out of this and fast. They plan on pushing the wedding date forward, we're lucky our parents haven't dragged us off to be married already.

I'd tell you to say "Hi" to Malik for me, but we already know how that would end. Jealous lovers are the worst. E-mail me back with the plan ASAP!

Lot's of "love",

**Akatsuki Ryou**

Sent at 3:00 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Ryou**

Subject: More News

You are by far the most annoying little pest that I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. Obviously, no matter what you do, it is impossible for you to send me an e-mail that doesn't sound awkward. Do you want to know why? Because you fucking ramble! You're such an idiot!

If you haven't heard by now then you are more insignificant than I originally thought. We're moving. And incase your tiny little brain doesn't understand that, when I say we're moving, I don't mean my mom, Malik and myself. I mean my mom Malik, you, your father, and myself. Apparently it's time for us to re-connect or some bullshit like that, and the five minute Skype thing doesn't count.

Besides that, mother wants us to get to know each other before the marriage. Hopefully, my telling to the rest of the world that I hate you (to your face, of course), will put an end to this stupid engagement. I don't understand why a marriage is necessary to solidify a company merger. If my plan doesn't work, maybe brutally murdering you in your sleep will.

Out of curiosity, when did you and Marik become lovers? Last time I checked, you were too much of a prude to let him fuck you.

Your "loving" fiancé,

**Akatsuki Bakura**

Sent at 3:15 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Bakura**

Subject: Just a Small Correction

For your information, it will be Marik, Malik, you, and I moving… in together. Ugh. Secondly, you kill me, and Marik will kill you and Malik.

I find it very sad, when someone who only uses the head between their legs, insults your intelligence. If you used the one on your shoulder, then you'd realize that just because we voiced our… dislike for each other, doesn't necessarily mean that they'll cancel the wedding. If they didn't cancel it when they found out I was a boy, why would they end it just because we don't get along?

Lastly, what do you mean you don't understand the point of weddings in terms of company mergers? Does it hurt to be that… uneducated?

To wrap it up, just because I don't act like a total slut in public (similar to how some people we know act in private), doesn't make me a prude.

Sincerely,

**Akatsuki Ryou**

P.S. I hate our matching names.

Sent at 3:30 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Ryou**

Subject: A Little Forewarning

If you ever imply, that Malik is a cheap slut again, I will kill you. Marik won't be able to save you, because he'll be dead.

Theoretically, the marriage is to ensue that neither company turns on the other. If they do, both families would suffer.

As for the living situation, Malik and I get the master bedroom. End of discussion.

Sincerely,

**Akatsuki Bakura**

P.S. It pisses me off the most.

Sent at 4:30 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Bakura**

Subject: Not Worried

For starters, the "cheap slut" I referred to earlier, was not Malik. It was you. Next, when you/Malik think you can overpower Marik, let me know. My great great great grandchildren would like to see your spirits try.

Also, Marik and I have already moved into the new place, and so, we've laid claim to the master bedroom.

Sadly, I do feel the need to ask: Did your mommy answer your questions about the merger?

Yours truly,

**Akatsuki Ryou**

Sent at 4:40 p.m.

**To:** **Akatsuki Ryou**

Subject: Your Answer

No, yours did.

From,

**Akatsuki Bakura**

Sent at 4:43 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Bakura**

Subject: My Reply

Fuck you.

From,

**Akatsuki Ryou**

Sent at 4:57 p.m.

_Bakura smirked to himself, knowing he'd gotten under Ryou's skin._

**To: Akatsuki Ryou**

Subject: Sorry To Inform You

I wouldn't drop Malik for you. You're not worth it, and you probably suck in bed… and not in the good way.

From,

**Akatsuki Bakura**

Sent at 5:04 p.m.

**To: Akatsuki Bakura**

Subject: Feeling Sympathetic

Too bad Malik can't say the same for you. He'd drop you in a second, if he had even the slightest chance at being with someone wealthier than you. Again.

Enjoy your sloppy seconds,

**Akatsuki Ryou**

Sent at 5:10 p.m.

_Bakura growled as he read Ryou's response. He didn't bother replying, he'd deal with him tomorrow… in person._

_Ryou smirked when an hour later he hadn't gotten a response. He was rather proud at having gotten under Bakura's skin. All he had to do was get through tomorrow, the day the four of them would officially become roomies._

_**

* * *

TBC**_

This is an idea, I had a while back. If you think I should continue it, please let me know.


	2. Moving In or All Out Brawl

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!

Bam!

The room door slammed open.

In a second Ryou had detached his lips from Marik's. Throwing a glance over his shoulders he was met with a sight he'd hoped to never see again.

Bakura.

He stood in the doorway, his wild silver hair tousled, his black muscle shirt clinging tightly to his body, and black baggy pants hanging loosely from his hips. His red eyes glinted menacingly in the little light the room received.

He groaned.

"Bakura, can you please knock before entering my room?"

"I already told you this is my room."

"And I already told you, that I moved into this room."

"Well, move back out, shithead."

Ryou took a deep breath; there was no point in sinking to Bakura's level. Glancing over at Marik, he had to admit that he was rather proud that he could stay quiet for so long. He grabbed a nearby, that Marik had pushed aside, and whipped it at Bakura. "Get out of my room!"

Bakura snarled as he knocked the pillow aside, he had launched himself at the couple before the pillow had hit the ground. Marik, having anticipated Bakura's next move, had shoved Ryou off of him and caught Bakura by the neck, effectively ending his momentum.

He tossed Bakura to the ground easily as he rose from his position on the bed. Crouching down, he grabbed Bakura by the hair, and pulled him to eye level. Bakura growled at him, and so he slammed his fist into Bakura's face, before tossing him into the wall, and slowly advancing on him.

Ryou carefully read Marik's body language, noticing that in the past minute and a half, he had become very angry. At this observation, he leapt to his feet, and intercepted Marik with a kiss, wrapping both of his arms around Marik's neck. "It's okay, Marik, you don't have to keep going."

Marik growled, slapping Ryou hard on the ass, he grabbed Ryou's arms from around his neck, and pinned both arms firmly behind his back. After checking that both of Ryou's arms were slightly bent at an angle they shouldn't be, he transferred both wrists to one hand, and let the other one wander the body in front of him. He made sure Ryou knew his place and who he belonged to by marking his neck, roughly leaving painful bite marks all over the pale skin.

Ryou groaned at the sensation of Marik's rough treatment on his body, he wasn't surprised when Marik tossed on the bed, or when he grabbed a belt that was lying across the dresser.

"What have I told you about interrupting me?"

"Not to."

"Precisely."

The belt whipped down to the ground, and Ryou braced himself for the sting of the first blow.

Raising the belt again, Marik prepared to snap it back down onto Ryou's bare back; however a grip to his wrist prevented that. Marik turned to ask the final request of the person who had stopped him from hearing Ryou's cries.

"As much as I hate that little shit, I can't sit by and watch you beat him." Bakura snarled, his cheek had already begun to bruise from the blow he had received earlier.

_Had it been anyone else, Ryou would have been touched by the notion. Since it was Bakura he felt like throwing up, if Bakura thought that by "saving" him from his "abusive" lover would win him any points, then he was more… uneducated than he had originally thought. After all, when Ryou had needed his help, he'd been a complete and utter jerk, and there would never be a pardon for his past actions. Ever._

Marik glared at him, before slamming his fist into Bakura's stomache. Doubling over, while gasping for breath, Bakura tried to calculate his next move. The elbow his back received limited his options, as he dropped straight to the ground.

_Ryou carefully analyzed Marik's body posture again, and after a moment or two he realized that he needed to distract him again, otherwise he'd be hiding a dead body. His father definitely wouldn't like that, despite the number of problems that would solve. And that was the only reason he was doing it, well, there was the dead body and the fact that once Marik went berserk it would be hard to calm him again._

Hopping up once again, Ryou ran over to Marik, clutched tightly to his shirt and rubbed himself firmly against him. His hands eventually began to wander Marik's body, and Marik returned the favor by roughly groping him. When Marik began to bite his neck again, he knew that Bakura was off the hook, and so he slowly began to spin around. Marik realizing what Ryou wanted, picked him up, spun on his heel and dumped Ryou on the bed.

Bakura began to slowly rise from his position on the ground, and he glared at Marik who had turned his back on him. He was about to grab Marik and kick his ass when Ryou looked him in the eyes and gave him a look that clearly said "stay down". Snarling to himself his hands clenched at his sides as he glared at Ryou. He grew angry as he realized that the prissy little brat had given him an order and he had unintentionally started to follow it.

He grabbed Marik by the shoulder, and forcefully turned him around. "Get out of my room." He kept his voice, calm and even.

Marik glared at him coldly; and Ryou twitched, Bakura was such an idiot.

As Bakura prepared to take down Marik, a voice distracted them.

"Bakura! You could have helped me bring the stuff to our room! It's not all mine you know!"

Marik and Ryou turned to regard Malik.

"Hello, Malik," Ryou began, "it's nice to… I mean it's a pleasure to… err, pleased to make… umm… I'm Ryou." he finished lamely.

_There was no point in lying. He didn't like Malik; he'd briefly spoken to him on the phone a few times. Needless to say, he'd proven to be a rude brat, and he'd been even worse during the Skype disaster._

"It's nice to know that you haven't changed since we last met. You still don't have a brain." Malik sneered in response.

_It was safe to say the feelings between the two were mutual._

_Taking a deep breath, Ryou managed to ignore Malik's reply. He instead focused on Marik's reaction to the new tenant. He didn't know much about the situation, all he knew was that Malik and Marik hated each other with a passion. He had a feeling that the reason Marik was constantly angry and hateful was somehow Malik's fault._

_It had to be, it wasn't normal the amount of hatred the two shared. It wasn't like his relationship with Bakura either. As much as he wanted to deny it, he knew deep don in a life or death situation, he'd help Bakura out, and Bakura would do the same. Their relationship with one another may not be completely healthy, but it wasn't violent… most of the time. But with Malik and Marik, it was likely that if one of them was in danger, it was because of the other._

_In other words, if he or Bakura were about to be hit by a car, they would try to save each other, despite their feelings for the other. If Malik or Marik were about to be hit by a car it was likely because one of them had pushed the other into the road. But then again, maybe he wasn't giving their hatred enough credit. He wouldn't be surprised if they did save the other, but only so they could be the one to end the other's life._

Malik strode over to Marik, hand raised to deliver a devastating slap; however, Marik easily caught Malik's wrist, and he began to twist it.

Malik winced at the pain, and attempted to free his arm. "Let me go, jackass!"

Marik smirked coldly, as he ruthlessly twisted the wrist further. He had every intention of snapping it. Malik whimpered, and Ryou sighed.

_As much as he disliked Malik, he probably shouldn't sit and watch Marik break his wrist. Sometimes he hated his conscience._

He stood preparing to stop Marik, when Bakura beat him to it.

Slamming his fist into Marik's face, Bakura relished the look of shock he received, before grasping Marik's wrist and digging his thumb into the pressure point located there. Surprised by the pain Bakura's thumb caused, Marik released Malik who quickly backed away, and scuttled over to Ryou who stood still in shock.

"I'll only say this one more time, get out of my room." Bakura growled.

Marik sneered at him, and the two began to beat the living shit out of each other.

Groaning, Ryou turned to Malik. "We have to stop them."

"Why?"

"Because Marik will _kill_ Bakura."

_Ryou sometimes wondered how dense a Malik could possibly be. Their lovers were beating fighting in front of them, and the larger one was clearly going to kill the smaller, and all he could say is "Why?"_.

"Are you stupid?"

"Are you?" Ryou shot back.

"Obviously, Bakura is going to teach Marik a lesson."

"What are you on?"

_Not even he could be polite to someone who was so… stupid._

"Marik is low-class, no good trash."

Ryou saw red.

"He's absolutely useless. I don't know what you see in him, but then again maybe it's because you too ugly to find someone else."

"Why you no good tramp!"

He lunged at Malik, sending them both spiraling to the ground. Sitting on Malik's stomache, he grabbed his hair, and began slamming his head into the floor, screaming out words he rarely used.

Marik and Bakura split apart at the sound of Ryou's cries. Marik began laughing hysterically at the sight of an angry Ryou slamming Malik's head into the floor. Bakura yelped and sprung to his feet to separate them, only to fall down face first, as Marik grabbed his legs.

Malik shoved Ryou off of him, and pinned the smaller boy underneath him. He smirked as he straddled Ryou's waist and slammed his fist into the pale boy's face.

"I'm sorry, did something I say upset you?" he sneered down at Ryou.

Ryou glared at him, "No, but I was wondering, what's it like to be a lowly whore? Do you get a lot of money, dropping to your knees for random men?" Malik hit him again. "How's Pegasus? Does he miss you?" Malik screeched in rage and began hitting Ryou without pause.

_And this, Ryou realized, is where the gloves come off, and the heavy ammunition came into play. He wouldn't let Malik talk shit, and Malik wouldn't let him either. Besides, did it really matter if everything he said was 100% truthful, or as long as there was a bit of truth, and he let everyone else draw their own conclusions. As long as no one outright lied, then you could say pretty much anything in this battle of wits._

Ryou growled, and despite the pain, forced his body up, and managed to deliver a solid head butt to Malik's chin. Malik released Ryou, and his hand flew to his chin, while Ryou flipped their position. As he was preparing to once again beat the shit out of Malik a voice stopped him.

"Ryou, what the hell is going on here? !"

Ryou's eyes whipped to the door, his father stood there, looking anything except impressed.

"Hey, dad! We're just figuring out who gets this room. The two people who win their wrestling matches get it."

"Couldn't you have done something more… civilized? What's wrong with flipping coins?"

"Dad! That's way too easy! This is a lot more fun."

_Grumbling lightly to themselves, Bakura and Malik had to admit it, Ryou was quick on his feet and a decent liar._

"As you can see, I've won over here, and Marik's won against Bakura, so the room is ours." He climbed off of Malik, and Marik calmly released Bakura from the chokehold he'd been keeping him in.

"As… entertaining as that… tactic was, Kaita and I have decided that Bakura and you will share this room."

"What?" They both called.

"Marik and Malik can share the other."

"WHAT?" Malik yelled, and Marik glared coldly at Aka Yaten.

"Dad, you can't make decisions like that, without our approval."

Malik looked shocked and crawled over to settle down beside Bakura.

"Why is that?"

"Not only have we already decided a full proof method to deciding who gets what room already, don't you think it's a little sudden to make me share a room with Bakura?"

"Ryou you're going to marry him, why does it matter?"

"I'm not used to him, yet. I'd rather share a room with Marik, even Malik would be better than Bakura."

"The more time you spend with him, the more comfortable you'll be with him."

"Dad, this is kind of like taking a new medication. You don't just start taking large doses of it, you take a little bit at a time, and slowly introduce it to your body."

"As 'true' as that may be, this is not up for discussion. You two are sharing this room, and that's final."

"Fine, but dad, we have four bedrooms in this place. Why are Malik and Marik sharing a room?"

"A home is not complete without a place for the guests to sleep."

"That only requires one bedroom. There's still one room unaccounted for."

"No, either Kaita or I will use that room when we come to check up on you kids."

He groaned silently to himself there was no getting out of this.

"Now that we've cleared this up, I'll be leaving."

Unless…

"I'll see you two for breakfast tomorrow."

"No, Kaita and I have work; we won't be able to come over."

Bingo.

Yaten quickly left the apartment.

"So how are we going to do this? Personally, I think Marik and I won this bedroom, fair and square."

"Are you stupid, what if they check up on us and realize that we aren't where we should be?" Bakura shot at him.

"Are you stupid? Did you not just hear that no one will be checking on us tomorrow?" Marik asked.

"Are you stupid? Have you never heard of the concept commonly known as _lying_?" Malik asked.

"Moving on with this lovely repetition of the same question, no one is checking on us, therefore we do not need to abide by any rules."

"Fine, Malik and I get this room." Bakura said.

"For tonight and we can trade back tomorrow." Ryou said. Marik looked at Ryou, wondering why he was agreeing.

Bakura opened his mouth to argue, but Malik beat him to it. "Agreed, we'll trade every other night."

Walking over to the drawers, Ryou began emptying it of half its contents, Marik catching his hint walked over to the closet and began emptying it.

"What are you doing?" Bakura asked.

Ryou had missed his chance earlier so, "Are you stupid? We have to make it seem like we're following the rules, so Marik shouldn't have clothes in here." They left with a pile of items.

Bakura growled lightly to himself. He pulled his stuff out and Malik helped him pack his belongings into the room left from Marik's recently moved stuff. They could unpack Malik's stuff later.

"Why?"

Ryou giggled mischievously.

"We've already fucked in that room. This way, we'll be the first in both rooms." Marik smirked at Ryou and tossed his stuff on the desk. Ryou understood what he wanted and crawled onto the bed, while Marik shifted through everything he had dropped. Pulling out a thick belt he smirked at Ryou.

"You still need to be punished for earlier."

Ryou moaned lightly at the thought of what was to come.

**TBC**

Wow, two updates in two days. Hmmm, I guess it's because that I had most of this chapter written out. J bear, this was for you.


	3. Ground Rules or Everyday Shit

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!.

**

* * *

Ground Rules or Dealing with Everyday Shit**

'_This has to be a dream.'_ Bakura thought to himself. He remembered this day clearly, it was the day that would cause the change in his relationship with Ryou.

It was weird though, being able to see the event from a different perspective. He could see himself at the age of 10, curled up with a 9-year-old Ryou in the backseat of the car. Ryou's mom, Asakura, was driving them to the mall, for what though, he couldn't remember.

"Bakura, we'll always be together, right?"

"Of course."

"And when we grow up, I'll have lots of babies for you."

"Stupid, boys can't have babies." he shot at him before he could think his words through.

It was sad, after everything Ryou had tried to do to him, he still felt bad when he saw the slight tremor in his lip, at his careless remark.

"But, we can adopt some, so it doesn't matter."

It was also sad, how he still felt relieved at the sight of 9-year-old Ryou's smile.

"Really?"

"Yup."

And here comes the ironic part.

"Oh, I can't wait for that! I'll have lots of grandbabies to spoil! Hurry and grow up already! I can't wait for your wedding! If you make me wait any longer, I might just die." Asakura chuckled joyously.

"Mommy, you shouldn't talk like that!" Ryou giggled.

"Oh really now," she turned around to regard the two, "Bakura, whose side are you on?"

He watched himself pretend to think about it. "Well, a smart man always takes his fiancé's side."

Asakura chuckled some more at their silly conversation.

"Mommy, the light is green now." Ryou chirped before going back to cuddling into Bakura's side.

Asakura nodded her thanks and pushed the gas pedal.

He really didn't want to see this.

"Bakura?"

Well this was different. He didn't remember hearing Ryou speak to him.

"Bakura?"

What was wrong with his voice? Ryou's voice was a lot more high-pitched than that.

"Bakura?"

Something was definitely wrong, he could hear the screams in the background, and yet all he could focus on was Ryou's weird ass voice.

"Bakura, WAKE UP!"

* * *

Bakura shot up and turned to stare at Malik. "Can I help you?"

"I'm bored." Malik mumbled, putting on the cutest smile he could muster.

Bakura sighed and leaned against the headboard. "And what do you propose we do?"

"Well," Malik began to walk his fingers up Bakura's leg. "We could fool around a little." He crawled over to straddle Bakura, their chests touching.

"Didn't I fuck you before we moved here?"

"Yeah, but that was," he glanced at the clock on the nightstand, "five hours ago."

"Only five?" Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"Hey! I let you have your nap, so now, you should let me have my—"

"Don't you mean MY cock?"

"Does it matter? I want it now!"

Rolling his eyes, Bakura grabbed Malik by the hips, and prepared to flip him over.

BAM!

The door slammed open before he could.

"Please don't fuck in front of me. I wasn't able to fit spewing chunks, into my busy day schedule, so it will have to wait for a while."

"Shut up." Bakura growled as his eyes snapped to Ryou standing in the doorway.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Come downstairs, we have some things to discuss."

"And why can't we talk here?" Malik sneered.

Ryou sighed in irritation. "Because, the living room is neutral territory."

Malik and Bakura regarded each other, before silently deciding that they would go, but only to hear what it was about.

After a short trek down the stairs, and into the living room, Bakura calmly observed the room. He hadn't taken the time to when he had initially arrived hours earlier, his primary concern being the master bedroom.

Marik sat glaring at all of them from his position on the couch, though the black plush couch was sinking from his weight alone, and ruining his threatening image. He watched as Ryou walked over to the couch and settled himself in Marik's lap. He also watched rather curiously as Marik gave Ryou the coldest look he had ever seen, before gripping his hair and staring at his face.

Something about that bothered him, but if Ryou was stupid enough to stay in an abusive relationship, he really couldn't be bothered to care.

He stalked his way over to the loveseat, and plopped into it, and noticed how extremely comfortable it was. He sank a good inch or two into it. Malik joined him seconds later, curling up with him in a position that gave him a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

The two couples attempted to stare each other down.

"Well," Bakura began, "why the fuck did you call us down?"

"Ground rules." Ryou said.

"What?"

"We can't all live here and have absolutely no rules."

"And why not?" Malik asked. "Is that stick, so far up your ass, you can't have any fun?"

Ryou didn't bother getting upset about that. "Malik, Bakura may be a stick, but Marik's more like a tree trunk." Bakura bristled at his answer. "But to answer your question, no, the imaginary stick is not so far up my ass, that I can't have any fun. But in its defense, your imaginary brain is not so large as to give you any common sense."

"Excuse me?" Malik prepared to launch himself at the Ryou.

Ryou ignored Malik's outburst. "Rule number one: No parties, without everyone's permission."

"What? Why the hell not?"

"Because you dolt," This time Marik took the reigns. "If you actually want to attempt the impossible by trying to pass a test, you need quiet. If I decide to throw a party on the night before your test, you won't be able to study."

"Attempt the impossible?" Malik echoed. Bakura noticed that despite the fact that Malik was glaring at Marik, tears were beginning to prick his eyes.

'_How did he know about that?'_ he wondered to himself. It had taken him months to realize that about Malik, and yet, Marik seemed to already know.

Ryou looked at Marik weirdly, wondering where that comment had come from. Ignoring it he moved on.

"Rule number two: Clean whatever room you slept in."

"That's what the maids are for." Bakura snorted.

"Which brings us to rule number three: No maids."

"What?" Malik cried.

"Maids are for people who can't do anything for themselves. If you want to live in a large house, make sure you have time to clean it up."

"That's not fair. We should v-vote on this! Why do you get to make the rules?"

"If we take a vote we'll end up split down the middle."

"How about this." Marik smirked. "Whoever gets the best grade in school gets to decide whether or not we have a maid. Deal?" he sneered at Malik, "Or, are you not smart enough for the challenge?"

Bakura glared at him. What a low blow.

"Deal." Malik hissed at him.

"Until then, we clean our own mess. Any volunteers for the bathroom?"

They all looked at each other.

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not i—fuck!" Bakura cried.

"Sorry. babe," Malik snickered patting Bakura on the head. "Seems like your master reflexes aren't going to save you this time." Bakura glared at him.

"Next, if someone sweeps, someone else can vacuum the rug." Ryou continued.

_He wasn't kidding either. Unbeknownst to Malik and Bakura sweeping the whole house took less time and energy than vacuuming the rug that covered most of the living room floor. Marik and Ryou knew, they were the ones that checked, a few days after moving in._

Malik thought about it, vacuum a single rug, or sweep the whole house. Pretty obvious choice, right?

"I'll vacuum." he said.

"I'll sweep." Marik smirked. He would enjoy sweeping. Especially when he swept the dirt and debris onto the rug Malik would be struggling to clean.

"Then I'll do the kitchen." Ryou finished. "And rule number four: No sex in the kitchen or living room. And before you say anything," he added when Malik opened his mouth. "We eat in those two places and I don't want your germs anywhere near my food."

Malik grudgingly agreed to the logic behind that rule.

"Last rule, for now at least: Fend for yourselves."

"What?" Bakura asked.

"When it comes to food, you guys are on your own. And just because you don't have to wash your dishes doesn't mean you can leave them anywhere."

"Fine. Is that all?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Yes."

"One more thing." Malik said.

"What?"

"At school, we don't know each other."

"We'll that's a given." Marik sneered at him.

"You know what? Fuck you, and your fucking attitude!"

"Sorry, I wouldn't fuck an accessory to MURDER!" Marik roared at him, leaping to his feet.

Ryou crashed to the floor at Marik's motion, and raised his head to stare at him in horror. Slowly his eyes drifted over to Malik.

_What the hell happened between them?_

"Fuck you! I'm better than you will ever be! YOU NO GOOD TRAILOR TRASH!"

That sent Ryou flying to his feet. "Shut the fuck up, you stupid slut!"

"Why don't you back the fuck off, and go cross at a green light."

Ryou flipped. "Before or after your mom takes me out with her?"

Bakura saw red. "You little shit!"

He lunged at Ryou. Marik clothes lined him with ease. They were about to start another brawl when they heard a call.

"Bakura, Malik, Ryou, Marik! I'm here! Sorry, I didn't come meet you earlier with Yaten"

"Kaita!" Ryou cried. "We're in the living room!"

They all glared at each other. But as Kaita approached they put on their masks of happiness. They could always deal with this later.

**TBC**

I meant to update this three weeks ago… but I was busy. In my defense I made up for it by ignoring my teachers and writing in class. I love how all my reviews are from the same three people. That makes me smile.


	4. Making Friends or Making Enemies

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!.

Making Friends or Making Enemies

_BAM!_

The door slammed close. Ryou watched as Marik paced around the room angrily. Random objects were thrown around the room, and nothing was safe from his rage. The sight of an angry, worked up, and tense Marik was making him a little hot.

It hadn't even been ten minutes after Kaita had left when another fight had broken out. This time Ryou had distracted Marik long enough for the other two to leave safely, and Marik was dealing with his rage in one of the few ways he knew how.

By destroying everything in sight.

It wasn't how Ryou had really wanted him to deal with his emotions, he had been hoping for an angry fuck, but this would have to do.

"Marik?"

Marik stormed past him, not paying him any attention.

"Marik?"

A stress ball whizzed through the air, and Marik let out a frustrated growl.

"Marik?"

"Would you shut up? !" Marik balled the front of his shirt in one hand, and the other was held threateningly in a fist.

"No."

For a second, Ryou could have sworn Marik's eyes turned red, as the fist flew at his face. It was during that second that Ryou, for the first time, was afraid of Marik. His eyes closed to brace himself for a blow.

One that never came.

Opening his eyes, he saw Marik had stopped a few centimeters away from his face. He was shaking, and his eyes were a bit wild.

"Marik?"

He found himself wrapped up tightly in Marik's eyes. Bewildered he could do nothing more than return the embrace.

A few moments later Marik began to loosen his grip.

"Marik, you can't go to school tomorrow if you're so tense."

No reply.

"Crawl on the bed, I'll give you a massage." He kept his voice low, and murmured into his ears. For the next little while, he realized, it would be better to treat Marik more like a frightened animal than a person.

Marik still didn't speak; he just crawled onto the bed. He could still hear her words, running through his mind.

_Promise me that you will break the cycle._

* * *

The alarm clock rang, forcing the two occupants out of bed. Ryou groaned tiredly, before rolling over and hiding his head under a pillow. As Ryou moved from his place on Marik's chest, Marik rose from the bed and stared at his sleeping lover.

Standing he stretched a bit, before walking to the other side of the bed, and he moved the alarm clock so that it was out of Ryou's reach. Heading over to the closet, he grabbed a towel and went to the bathroom to start his morning ritual.

Ryou grumbled as his hand searched for the blaring noise, ignoring the sound of the door closing. He let out a loud groan as he realized what Marik had done, forcing him to either get up or attempt to tune out his alarm clock. Throwing a pillow at the closed washroom door, he got out of bed and walked over to his alarm clock.

He contemplated tossing it out the window for a few glorious minutes, before returning back to reality and resetting it for tomorrow. Yawning he made his way to the closet before pulling out a towel and rushing to join Marik in the shower.

After all, they didn't get up two hours earlier than necessary for no reason.

* * *

A sharp wailing sound was what woke up Bakura initially, and he mentally slapped Malik when he realized it was his alarm clock. He mentally slapped him again when he realized that they only had half an hour for the both of them to get ready and leave. That would be a problem, because if Malik saw him naked or vice versa, they'd never leave the house. Mumbling obscenities under his breath, he began to shake Malik awake.

Malik fought with everything he had against the pull of reality, he was enjoying his dream. It was really, really, really _hot_. Naturally, when something started shaking him, he rolled away to escape it. When that didn't work, he rolled towards the thing and bit down. Hard.

Bakura didn't flinch; he just used his other hand to fondle Malik, trying to entice the boy into waking. Eventually though, after a good ten minutes of trying, he managed to rouse the boy.

"What?" came the grumbled reply.

"School."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Later?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Ryou."

"So?"

"Marik."

A small growl left Malik's throat at the name.

"Kura, I don't want that name to be among the first things I hear in the morning."

"Then get up, and stop wasting time, we have," he glanced at the clock, "twenty minutes."

Malik grumbled as he sat up.

"Shower?"

"Yes, you can go first." He silently rolled his eyes at the fact the Malik had gone back to one word questions.

The joys of morning incoherency.

* * *

Ryou resisted the urge to fidget as he stood in front of his new class. Marik stood to his left, standing tall and proud as was his normal stature. Bakura and Malik, who had barely made it to school on time, were on his right side, glaring at everyone who gave them a second glance.

He hated this. Meeting new people was not something he enjoyed, it made him uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was sizing him up, and that made him want to crawl into a hole. Marik said his reaction in these situations was cute; personally he was rather proud that he never threw up in them.

Someone had escorted them to class, and they all had resisted the urge to bang their head against a wall when they had an epiphany.

They were all in the same home form. That meant no matter how hard they tried to avoid each other during the day, they were stuck together for this one period.

Glancing at Marik from the corner of his eye, Ryou wandered silently what his schedule was like. He really, really, _really_ hoped they started gym soon, seeing as the class had entered the health section of the course. Especially if the swimming unit hadn't passed already.

"Sorry, I'm late class. I wanted to check something out about our new students."

Ryou and Bakura froze. They'd be able to recognize that voice anywhere.

"Mai?" they echoed, whipping around to stare at their new teacher.

"Ryou, Bakura, as nice as it is to see you guys again, from this moment on you're my students. So please, call me Ms. Kujaku."

The blond teacher stepped into the room, her hips swaying more than they should legally be allowed.

Bakura smirked at her as she walked past him. "Did you get something done to your tits?"

Silence.

Mai twitched slightly.

"My breasts are real!"

"Sure they are."

"Bakura, you've just earned yourself a week of detention. Now if you'd kindly tell the class about yourself, apart from the fact that you're a pig, we can get on with our life."

Snickering softly, Bakura moved forward slightly. "Name's Tsuki Bakura—"

"Akatsuki Bakura." Mai interrupted.

Shooting her a glare he continued. "I hate pretty much everything and everyone—"

Malik cleared his throat, glaring at Bakura.

"Except for my boyfriend Malik—"

"Boyfriend! You can't have a boyfriend!"

Every turned to stare at Mai.

Her head whipped back and forth between Ryou and Bakura trying to work something out. "But… but… but…" Ryou turned to Mai and gave her the cutest look he could muster, pleading with her not to reveal their situation and she groaned. "Great. Now I'm stuck knee deep in whatever shit you've guys managed to get yourselves into. Malik, you're up next."

"I'm Malik Ishtar, and I'm Egyptian." He stopped and the rest of the class stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "That's it. I'm done."

"You forgot that you're a complete moron and a slut." Marik added.

"Why you—"

"Oh, you also didn't mention your temper."

Malik let out an angry sound.

"I'm sorry, did I hit a nerve?" Malik glared at him. "Good. I'm Marik Ishtal, and that's all you'll need to know."

All eyes turned to Ryou, with the exception of Mai who was glaring at Marik. If that exchange hadn't happened so fast, Bakura would've gotten a detention buddy.

"I'm Aka Ryou."

"Akatsuki." Mai corrected automatically.

Ryou paled slightly, "I like … hanging out with my friends and playing games."

Unbeknownst to him, a few students in the class perked at that revelation.

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, Ryou you sit next to Honda." Near the center of the classroom a boy raised his hand, and Ryou made his way over there. "Marik, there's a seat next to Mazaki. Bakura sit near Kaiba; and Malik go sit beside Jounouchi."

Glancing around the classroom, Ryou noted where everyone was sitting. He was in the middle of the class, with Malik in front of him –he would make sure to have a lot of fun with him. Marik was in the second row from the front, right by the door; and Bakura was all the way in the back of the class, one seat away from the window.

"Now, today's lesson is on the food pyramid." Mai began.

"Uh, Miss Kujaku, isn't that the kind of stuff six-year-olds learn?" the blond asked, Ryou hazily remembered his name being Jounouchi.

"That's what makes it so appropriate for you, mutt." a snide voice called from the back.

"What'd you say Kaiba?" Jounouchi leapt from his desk.

"Down boy!" Mai called.

The blond grumbled as he sat back down in his seat.

"That's right, mutt, listen to your master."

Jou started twitching, and they all wondered silently if he was about to have a seizure. Thankfully the twitching subsided, though Mai's glare did not.

"Kaiba, one more crack out of you, and you'll officially be Bakura's detention buddy for the week."

A snort was her answer, though her eye twitched slightly she moved on with the health lesson.

Ryou soon realized the lesson would be easier to follow if there wasn't a giant sitting in front of Malik.

* * *

It was lunch time, and though Ryou was overjoyed at the fact he did have gym with Marik, he was disheartened to find he also had it with Malik and Bakura. At this rate, he would probably have all of his classes with them.

On the bright side, he hadn't missed much. They had only transferred a few weeks into the first semester, though the schedules were a little strange. They had four classes of seventy-five minutes, a five minute transition time and an hour lunch break. Also home form wasn't the first class of the day, it was the second. As he sat there pondering the strangeness of it all and nibbling on his sandwich, a large shadow suddenly covered him.

At first he thought it was Marik, hoping that maybe he'd changed his mind about being alone. The loud clatter of his books hitting the floor proved him wrong. Glancing up he stared wide eyed at the giant who sat in front of Malik.

"Can I help you?" he murmured quietly.

"Yeah. You can give me all of your money." Ryou stared at him. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't sure whether the guy was serious, he probably would have let out a nervous giggle.

"I don't have any—" He was cut off by the giant shoving him out of his chair.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

Ryou bit his lip nervously, glancing around the classroom. He was starting to regret giving Marik his space. He started to collect his books from off the floor when he was suddenly kicked in the gut.

"What the hell are you doing in my hangout anyways?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know—"

Another kick to the gut.

"Did I say you could speak."

Laughter from a few other guys filled the room. Ryou grumbled silently as he realized that these guys were bigger douches than Malik and Bakura combined.

The door slammed open, and the laughter suddenly stopped. Silently, Ryou prayed it was Marik.

"What's going on in here?"

He cringed when he realized that he didn't recognize the voice.

"Nothing, Yami, get the hell off my turf." the giant snarled.

"Nothing my ass, Ushio."

Footsteps made there way over in his direction, and Ryou didn't dare glance up as he continued to collect his books again. As he reached over to grab the last one, another hand grabbed it. Suddenly he felt himself being hauled to his feet, and when he looked up he blinked.

The student in front of him looked like the one that sat behind Marik. Besides that, he still looked vaguely familiar, and he just couldn't put his finger on it. He offered him a kind smile, his red eyes glinting slightly as he handed Ryou his book.

"Come on, Ryou, let's get out of here." He grabbed Ryou's lunch off the table and gave Ushio a cold look, before leading him out of the room.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, Ryou spoke up. "Thanks for your help…"

"Call me Yami."

"Okay." He offered him a bright smile.

"You probably don't know, but I'm in your health class."

"Oh! I thought you looked familiar!" he said.

"Well, it's nice to know that I wasn't completely overlooked."

"Oh no! That's not what I meant at all!"

"Calm down, I was just messing with you."

"Oh." Ryou blushed slightly feeling a tad embarrassed.

"So, you mentioned in class that you liked games. Any type in particular?"

"TRPG! They're the best. Are you a gamer?"

"Well, I have yet to lose a game."

"What? No way!"

"It's true."

"I don't believe you!"

"How can—"

"What happened, Ryou? Marik dump your ass so you're fucking around with someone else?"

Ryou and Yami whipped around to stare at the people who had interrupted their conversation. Bakura and Malik smirked at them as the other two stared shock. Biting his lip, Ryou thought about his next course of action. He held back a sigh as he realized that he didn't know anyone at this school well enough to be himself; for now, it would be better to play innocent, and slowly introduce them to his personality.

He lowered his head and began to turn around, grabbing Yami's arm he dragged him in the direction they'd been walking in.

"That's right, you little slut, keep walking!" Malik cried after him.

Yami stopped walking. "What right do you have to speak to him like that?" he sneered.

"Excuse me?" Bakura growled.

"You heard me."

"This has nothing to do with me."

"Actually, I baby-sit part time, and I feel it's my duty to do some off the clock hours."

They bristled at the insult. Bakura snarled as he approached Yami and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Do you want to start something."

"As a babysitter, it's my job to end things."

"You little—"

"Bakura, don't!" Ryou grabbed Bakura's raised fist, and was surprised when Malik flew over and shoved him into a locker.

Yami managed to break free of Bakura's hold and trip Malik, as he rushed over to Ryou's side. Seconds later a loud _BANG_ sounded though the hall as Bakura smashed into a locker. Glancing up, Ryou saw an angry Marik standing there.

Where the fuck did he come from?

"What's going on out there?" a loud mature voice called. Obviously a teacher had heard all the commotion.

"This isn't over," Bakura growled, "we'll get you for this." With a threatening gesture Malik and Bakura glared at the three of them before walking down the hall.

Marik gave Yami a cold glare, everything about it promising a slow painful death, before taking off.

"What just happened?" Ryou asked dazed.

"I was walking through the hall when I heard Ushio little cronies laughing, upon investigating I realized it was you. We were in the process of going to my friends when those two started up some bullshit, and then Marik came and… I have no idea what the fuck happened."

"Marik is mad at you, he's probably jealous."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to, but I think," Ryou started, "I think you just made three enemies, you really don't want to have."

**TBC**

That's the end; this chapter was a real bitch to write. Most just the middle section… actually after finishing Reverse Psychology it just sort of wrote itself. Thankfully, there's only half of Stupid Pointless Arguments left to write. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Friendly Concern or Stay Out of My Life

**Friendly Concern or Stay the Fuck Out of My Love Life!**

"Bye, guys." Ryou gave his new group of friends a small smile as he walked away from them. He was fortunate enough to have a few classes with them, and they had even offered him the empty locker near their own. At the sound of their farewells, a grin gradually began to form on his face, one that would not be easily erased.

Suddenly he was jerked into an empty hall.

His grin dissipated at the sight of Malik.

"What do you want?" he huffed.

"I'm only going to say this once."

"Thank goodness. Anymore of your stupidity and my IQ might drop a few points."

Malik gritted his teeth and snarled at him in response. "Stay away from Marik. It's for your own good."

"Excuse me?"

"And you worry about your IQ?"

"Who do you think you are to—"

"Marik will ruin your life if you stay with him."

Ryou rolled his eyes and began to turn around. He was stopped by a sudden grip on his wrist.

"Fucking listen to me! He did the same fucking thing to me, and as much as I hate you, I won't stand by and watch him do the same thing to you."

Ryou saw red. "You know what? Fuck you! The hatred between us is mutual, like hell am I going to take your advice. You're probably just fucking with me to ruin our relationship!"

"For fuck sake's, Ryou, he's abusive, it's in his blood!"

Malik never even saw it coming. One minute he was trying to prevent Ryou from ruining his life, the next he was on his ass.

Slowly, Ryou unclenched his fist, and dropped his arm. "I'm getting sick and fucking tired of hearing this shit. Why does everyone and their fucking grandma want in on my private relationships? Marik isn't abusive. I'll only say this one more time. Stay the hell out of my relationship, Malik."

"Fine, you little bitch." Malik started as Ryou stormed away, "Ruin your life. I tried to tell you, he's just like his father."

* * *

Ryou snarled to himself as he stormed to the parking lot. Curse words slipped from his lips as fluidly as a running stream, but they failed to make him feel better about the situation. It wasn't until he was safely sitting in the passenger's seat of their car that started he felt better.

"I hate Malik." He announced.

Marik let out a vague sound of agreement.

"Marik, why do you hate him?"

Their car began to slowly pick up speed.

"Marik?"

"Because that little fuck up can't keep a promise."

As the car started going faster than what made him comfortable, Ryou changed the topic.

"What do you want to do later?"

"What did that guy do to you?"

Ryou glanced at Marik confused. "Marik, what are you talking about."

"You have a bruise on you're stomach. What did he do to you?"

"What?"

Ryou blinked, before lifting up his shirt. He gingerly poked at the purple bruise, flashes of Ushio kicking him in the stomach passed through his mind.

"How did you know about this?"

"In the hall, your shirt rode up."

"Oh. No, that ass who sits in front of Malik did this."

Another sound escaped Marik's throat, as the car slowed down.

"So, you never did say what you wanted to play later."

* * *

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Bakura smirked as Malik stalked over to him.

Malik angrily shook his head as he paced around the empty park.

"Malik?"

Snarling to himself, Malik tossed himself into Bakura's lap.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Bakura yawned, fiddling with a strand of grass.

"How close are you to that little bitch Ryou?"

"Oh, for fuck sakes, not this shit again. Malik, I'm not going to sleep with him." Bakura groaned and threw his arms to the sky, before allowing himself to fall back on the grass.

"That's not it. I need to know if he'll listen to you."

"Why?"

"It's Marik. He'll fucking ruin his life!"

"I didn't know you cared about Ryou."

"I don't! I just don't want to see Marik destroy anyone's life."

"Malik, where the fuck is this all coming from?"

"He's just like his father, Bakura. If we don't do something for Ryou now, it'll be over for him. Assuming he lives of course."

"Malik?"

"Bakura, Marik will beat him to death."

Malik's eyes hardened as he stared into Bakura's eyes longingly, silently begging him to fix the situation.

"Fine. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Please don't!"

"Shut up!"

Bakura and Marik froze at the sound of Ryou and Marik.

"I'll do anything, just don't—"

"I said shut up, you little bitch!"

They crept farther into the house, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again! Please don—"

A loud smack echoed throughout the house.

"Say that you like it!"

As they walked up the stairs, Bakura gestured to their room for the day, and Malik nodded his head, slipping into it quietly.

"I like it!"

"That's what I fucking thought!"

The constant banging from the room stopped.

"Where are you going?"

Bakura backtracked and slipped into his room to avoid detection.

He'd be back in a minute anyways.

* * *

"Groceries." Marik grumbled, as he slipped on his pants.

Ryou let out a moan as he worked on finishing himself.

"Eggs, milk, sugar…" he trailed off slightly as he got closer to the edge.

"What's for dinner?"

"What do," he panted, "What do you want?"

"Lasagna."

"Veggie?"

"Yes."

"Fine, you know what we need." he whimpered.

Marik smirked arms crossed, as he stood fully dressed watching Ryou.

Ryou let out a cry, as his body shook. Licking semen off his fingers he wasn't surprised when Marik roughly gripped his head and kissed him.

"Bye." he said to the exiting figure.

Yawning he stretched before sitting up and grabbing his robe. Wrapping it around his body, he made his way to the kitchen; never noticing somebody silently following him. As he was about to pass through the living room, he let out a cry as he was suddenly pulled back in.

"What the fuck!" he yelled at Bakura.

"Shut up."

"Excuse me?"

"I can't believe I have to fucking baby you at time like this."

"Bakura—"

"Look, if Marik is fucking abusive, why the fuck are you with him?"

"Marik is not abusive!"

"Really? Because it sounded like he was just RAPING you!"

Ryou let out a loud gasp. "He did not—"

"In the court of law 'no' always means 'no'."

"Because you would know all about that."

Bakura's eyes narrowed.

"Don't fucking piss me off. I'm trying to help—"

"Ha! You help me! I don't need or want it. So you can take your help and shove it right up your ass. Marik is not abusive."

"Oh? So why were you screaming: 'Please don't!'?"

"Why were you listening to me having sex! ?"

"Because you were screaming!"

"I'm sorry for enjoying the best sex of my life!"

"Stop avoiding the fucking subject!"

"There's nothing to avoid!"

"So, what's this then?"

Bakura ran his fingers on a bruise forming on Ryou's neck.

"How the hell should I know? I can't see my neck!" Ryou slapped his hand away.

"It's a bruise!"

"Really?" Reaching up to his neck, Ryou gingerly poked the area.

Bakura snarled as he grabbed Ryou's hand and shoved his sleeve down. "Here's another one!"

"I bruise easily, you moron!"

"Fucking admit it already! I don't have time for your bullshit!"

"There's nothing to admit!"

"He's hurting you, dumbass. That's what you need to admit to!"

"Hurting me?" Ryou echoed sounding confused. "You want to know whose hurt me? You hurt me when you pushed me down the fucking stairs! I never notice any injuries Marik gives me until later!"

"Are you saying that even when he picks up a belts and whips you with it, you don't notice? !"

"No, because he's usually fucking me into tomorrow soon after!"

"So he beats and rapes you daily? !"

"There's no raping or beating involved! Not that it's of your business, but we were role playing!"

Bakura's retort died in his throat.

"I fucking like pain with my pleasure! Marik has never laid a hand on me outside the bedroom, unlike you! He's also never forced me to do anything, so why don't you stay the fuck out of my love life, you jealous bastard!"

"What the fuck did you just say to me?"

"You heard me."

"So you've been sleeping around on me you little slut. Obviously, my lesson never stuck, if you think you can do whatever the fuck you want."

"What are you talking about, Bakura."

He was backhanded to the ground. "Shut up, you little bitch."

Ryou took one look into Bakura's eyes and panicked as the teen straddled him.

Those weren't Bakura's eyes.

"Zorc." he breathed.

"That's right, and this time, there is no medication to save you."

Tears welled up in his eyes.

Bakura stopped taking his medication, and this was the result.

**TBC**

… What the hell is wrong with Bakura? Silently I wonder why strange things always happen in my stories. Oh well, hop you enjoyed the chapter!


	6. A Hint of the Past or My Life Sucked

A Hint of the Past or My Life Fucking Sucked

It was a feeling. A sudden feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach that caused Marik to do a complete one-eighty and head back the way he came. He ignored the angry honks and swear words shouted at him, as he rushed back home.

* * *

"Get off me!" Ryou screamed. His body squirmed, twisting and turning as he tried to escape from the body crushing him to the ground.

"Shut the fuck up!" Bakura snarled angrily as he slapped his hand over Ryou's mouth.

"Somebody help me!" The thundering of footsteps sounded down the stairs and Ryou whimpered as he was struck across the face.

"Didn't I just tell you to be quiet?"

"Bakura, what's going on down here?" Malik asked. Upon entering the living room, he froze in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the scene in front of him. "Bakura what are you—"

"Shut up, I don't have time to train you now."

Malik's mouth opened and closed at the response, before he was bombarded by a memory.

"_Malik, if I ever seem off to you, I mean if you ever feel like I'm not acting like myself, then I want you to run. I don't care what the situation is, if I'm acting weird, get away from me."_

He could still remember the strained look on Bakura's face when he said that. Right now, Bakura definitely wasn't acting like himself. He snapped back to reality when Ryou screamed again, and stepped back in horror as Bakura forced the front of his robe open.

Jumping into action when the robe was pulled taut to constrict Ryou's movements he shoved Bakura aside. Yanking Ryou to his feet he made to run away when he was struck in the back of his head. He dropped to the floor like a bag of rocks.

Ryou let out another scream as he was yanked backwards by his robe; tears slid down his face as the robe fell off his shoulders.

"Marik!" he screamed. "Marik! Help me!"

Ryou kept repeating the cry, turning it into his personal mantra as he was once again pinned back to the floor.

"Damn it!" Malik cursed as he rubbed the back of his head. Jumping back to his feet he tackled Bakura once more. He got an elbow to his stomache for his troubles.

"I'll deal with you later, bitch." Bakura snarled at him.

"Bakura, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Bakura isn't here right now. Please leave a message after the beep, and he'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you." Bakura sneered mockingly at him.

Malik opened his mouth to say something smart back, but was backhanded across the face first. Reeling back in shock, confusion and hurt, he didn't realize Bakura's intentions until he had already cleared the room and grabbed the screaming Ryou once more.

Hopping to his feet once more, he made to lunge at Bakura again only to slip and face plant into the soft plush of the living room carpet.

"MARIK!" Ryou screamed again, as both his arms were pinned above his head.

BAM! Bakura flew across the room, his head smashing into the wall before he slid down to the ground.

Marik stood panting lightly from where he'd thrown the other male. After a few seconds of rest he yanked Ryou from off the ground and pulled him into his arms, turning to leave he was stopped by the whimpering Ryou.

"Ma—Ma—Marik can't le—leave Malik." Marik growled in his throat but roughly pulled Malik up from where he'd ended up tangled in Ryou's robe. Walking at a hurried pace he carried Ryou up to the master bedroom while dragging Malik by his wrist.

Upon entering the room, Marik slammed the door closed and locked it. He shoved Malik to the floor and gently settled Ryou on the bed, before silently digging around the room pulling out Ryou's clothes from the wardrobe.

"Malik." Malik glanced up from where he'd been glaring at Marik. "I—in the bathroom, th—there's a cupboard wi—with medi—medicine and Baku—Bakura…" Ryou voice became incoherent as he sobbed loudly.

Malik resisted the urge to sneer at him as he headed over to the bathroom, and opened the medicine cabinet. Searching for whatever it was he was lucky when he spotted a standard blue prescription bottle with familiar letters. Carefully he covered each letter up and read them out loud to himself one by one, until he was fairly sure he had what Ryou wanted.

"What the hell is this for? Since when does Bakura have a prescription?"

"Since… since… I don't know, he's had them for a long time. But he stopped taking them, and now, and now…" Ryou's explanation was interrupted by him crying harder.

Again, Malik found himself resisting the urge to snap at him as Marik began to dress the distressed boy.

"Marik," Ryou choked out as Marik finished dressing him, "hold me."

Marik raised an eyebrow as he stared down at Ryou, but sat down on the bed and pulled the other into his lap. Ryou whimpered and buried his head in Marik's chest. Awkwardly, Marik patted Ryou on the back.

Malik twitched as he watched Marik attempt to comfort Ryou. "Wow, you're so bad at this, I think I'm actually in pain from watching."

Marik gave Malik a cold glare in response.

Snorting, Malik stood up and walked over to the couple. Sitting down beside Marik, he scooted over so that there was at least a foot of space between them, and yanked Ryou into his lap. Ryou let out a startled cry as he was forced from Marik's strong protective arms into Malik's comforting embrace. He began to pull back when Malik pulled him into a hug started to whisper words of comfort into his ear.

Marik's eyes had initially narrowed at Malik's actions, but now, as he watched them, he couldn't help but remember what it was like to be comforted.

* * *

_He bawled silently in his room. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed throughout the house. It was only after a bottle shattered, showering the floor with glass that someone stormed out of the room. _

_Tiredly she made her way over to him. He sobbed harder even as she wrapped him in her arms. "Marik," she began "why did you do it? I told you to stay hidden."_

"_He was hitting you. He promised—he promised— he wouldn't anymore. And you and…" he trailed off as more tears poured down his face._

"_Oh, Marik. What am I going to do with you."_

"_It hurts, Mommy."_

"_I'm sorry, Marik. I wish I could do something about the pain. Next time, I want you to stay—"_

"_No! I won't let anyone I love be hurt; I'll protect them with everything I have." He glanced up at her face, seeking approval for his words._

_She smiled gently down at him. "I'm know you will, and you know what else you're going to do, Marik."_

_He didn't answer, already knowing what she was going to say._

"_You're going to break the cycle."_

* * *

He could still remember the comfort only his mother could bring him; at least she was his only comfort until Malik, who later betrayed him. If it was pure luck he'd stumbled across Ryou, someone who was also able to instill the calmness he'd thought he'd become incapable of.

However, that didn't change the fact that Ryou was sobbing in someone else's arms and he was doing nothing about it. With a quick motion he snatched Ryou from Malik's arms.

Rocking him slightly, he noticed that the boy's crying had died down a bit. Rubbing Ryou's back in time with his rocking, he began to whisper words of loyalty and protection into Ryou's ears. Silently, he wondered if his mom would be proud if she could see him now.

After a few minutes, Ryou calmed down completely and arranged himself in Marik's lap so that he could look into his lover's eyes. Leaning forward, he prepared himself for the hottest kiss ever and perhaps, if he was lucky, kinky make-up sex, when they were interrupted.

Coughing, Malik raised the prescription bottle in order to bring attention back to it. "Are you going to explain this yet?"

Ryou gave Malik a strange unreadable look.

"There's nothing to explain. When we were kids my mom died, when we were a little older his dad died. He couldn't cope with either of their deaths and became mentally fucked." Ryou muttered.

"The fuck? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well I don't know all the details, I was in the hospital during his diagnosis and I never wanted to be near him again so I didn't bother to check out what is wrong with him. What it all boils down to is that Bakura wants to be able to control everything so that no one can leave him, but since he knows that's a horrible thing to do, he created Zorc."

"And Zorc is?"

"The person that tried to rape me a few minutes ago." Ryou voice was tense as he instinctively huddled closer to Marik for protection.

"So he's a schizo?"

"I don't know." Ryou repeated in a strained voice. "If you have anymore questions, you should ask Bakura yourself."

"Fine." Malik rose from the bed and made his way over to the door.

"Where are you going?" Ryou asked confused.

"To go ask Bakura."

"Are you insane?" Ryou sprung out of Marik's arms, "You should stay away from him. He's dangerous, if you stay with him, you'll only be hurt!"

"Excuse me?" Malik asked whipping around to stare at him.

"I'm saying this for your own benefit, you can't trust him!"

"What right do you have to say that when you're dating Mr. Abusive over there?"

"Marik isn't abusive!"

"What the hell happened?" Bakura interjected.

All eyes snapped over to him. The door was wide open, mocking them in its unlocked state.

"How did you get in here?" Ryou screeched, jumping back a few feet to stand beside the rising Marik.

"I picked the lock, moron."

Ryou opened his mouth to scream something at him, but was a second too slow as Malik spoke up. "What are these for?"

Bakura took one glance at the bottle in Malik's hand and shot an icy glare at Ryou. "You told him?"

"Why doesn't he know already?"

"You told him?" Bakura repeated a little louder.

"I thought he already knew! Why doesn't he know?"

"You fucking told him!" Bakura screamed and lunged at Ryou.

Ryou let out a squeak and stumbled back in fear, but his vision of an enraged Bakura was blocked a few seconds later by Marik.

Moments later he was yanked to the side of the fight by Malik. "Watch Marik carefully." he said before staring blankly at them.

There was nothing spectacular about their fight, if Bakura was a beast, enraged and nimble; Marik was a dragon, ferocious and massive. In the midst of their battle, Marik picked Bakura up and, once again, tossed him into a wall.

It was the way Marik began to move that alerted Ryou to the fact that something was wrong, and Malik clearly sensed it as well.

Scrambling over to his fallen lover, Malik was shocked when Marik kicked him in the stomache.

"See," he said to Ryou as Marik dragged him up by his hair, "he's a monster, just like his father."

Marik snapped. He tossed Malik beside Bakura and picked up a picture frame from off the dresser. Slowly he began to make his way over to the two.

Ryou walked calmly over to Marik, ignoring all of Malik's whimpers and spiteful curses. Wrapping his arms around Marik, he glided his way around to the front of the man. Once there he began to gently pet Marik's hair, he carefully noted the moisture that became apparent when Marik buried his face there.

After a few minutes he turned to the other two. "If what you say about Marik's father is true," Marik's grip tightened on him, "then there's only one thing that you need to know. He's going to break the cycle of abuse." With those last words he led Marik out of the room, and into the bathroom, so they could take a well deserved bubble bath.

Because he could already feel the tension that would settle in the house for the next few days.

**TBC**

Yup, so there's the fifth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it,


	7. School Life or My Boyfriend Is Better!

School Work or My Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours!

It was unbearable.

Over a few days the tension in the house had become so thick that you would need a chainsaw in order to cut it. Everyone was on edge, never speaking to one another in order to avoid setting the spark that would inevitably lead to the thorough cleaning of the house and burying of bodies.

Too bad they never took into account the affect their school lives would have on their personal lives.

* * *

"But, Ms. Kujaku, I really don't think this is necessary!"

Mai's eye twitched in irritation. "Fine!" she screamed. "Clearly, no matter how I arrange this assignment you guys are going to complain about it! So how about I pick your partners too?"

The class cried their outrage, realizing that if Mai picked their partners now, in her current mood, she would purposely pick people they didn't like.

"That's just too damn bad! You shouldn't have started bitching at me!"

"Are you allowed to say bitch?" Bakura snickered.

"Just for that, Bakura you can work with Atem." Mai snarled as she pulled out a sheet of paper and jotted down their names.

"But, Ms. Kujaku, that isn't fair!" Yami cried.

"It is now that you've complained." Sneered Mai, as she went back to intentionally pairing up groups of people she knew didn't get along.

"Kaiba and Jounouchi."

"She's on a war path, isn't she?" Yuugi whispered quietly to Hanazaki who sat beside him.

"Marik," Malik held his breath. "you're with Ushio."

He let out a relieved sigh. Knowing he was in the clear now, Malik didn't care who he ended up with.

"Malik and Ryou."

Well fuck.

* * *

The assignment was a simple one. With your partner decide on five desirable and undesirable traits in a life partner. Create a brief two page write up on how these traits would be useful in everyday life and hand it in. Depending on Ms. Kujaku's mood they may or may not have to create a presentation for the class.

The purpose of the assignment was simple. To create an introduction of sorts to the health unit that they would be focusing on for the majority of the class. The unit? Relationships. When Ms. Kujaku had first said that everyone had believed that relationships was a not so subtle code for sexual education. Turns out it wasn't.

Now, Ryou and Malik sat face to face after school, in the living room. Pondering how they were going to pull this off without killing each other. Thankfully, Marik and Bakura were off with their partners doing who knows what, making this a little easier to do.

"So," Ryou began "how do you want to do this?"

Malik gave him an annoyed look but resisted the urge to snap at him. "You can do two desirable traits and three undesirable traits, and I'll do the rest. Okay?"

"Fine."

Silently they set to work. After a few minutes, Ryou finished and watched as Malik worked. It was another five minutes before Malik finished writing down his five traits, and turning he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Ryou staring at him.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?" Ryou growled in his throat.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

"Yes, but I'm surprised that you do as well." The remark escaped from his lips before he could even stop it.

Malik glared at him. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Why were you staring at me?"

"I was waiting for you to finish, is that a crime?"

Malik opened his mouth to reply, but changed his mind at the last moment, instead choosing to take a deep cleansing breath and continuing on with the assignment. "Which of the traits should we start with?"

"Desirable traits. I'll take notes on what you say, and I'll type it up after so you can go do whatever you have to do."

"Fine. I decided that a good life partner should be loyal so that you never have to worry about who their heart may actually belong to. Patient so that together you will be able to work out all your problems, and intelligent so that you always have stimulating conversations."

"Okay." Ryou mumbled as he jotted down what Malik said, occasionally nodding his head.

"So what did you put?"

Ryou blinked in surprise, he hadn't actually expected Malik to care since he wasn't going to be typing up what they said later on. "I think a good life partner should be affectionate," he paused when Malik snorted, "and dependable."

"Well that's good to know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryou asked with narrowed eyes.

"That you have some sense in your head." Malik sneered at him.

"Is there a point to what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you just come out and say it."

"Sure. As long as you know that a life partner should be affectionate and dependable, then you know that Marik isn't 'The One'."

"Well, when you put it like that, it does make sense." Malik blinked in shock at Ryou's admission. "After all, you did say a loyal, patient, and intelligent person make a good life partner; and you're dating _Bakura_."

Malik twitched a bit, but other then that didn't say anything else, lest it led to a brawl on the living room floor.

"Now a life partner shouldn't be jealous, arrogant or vain."

Malik nodded his head in agreement before adding, "They also shouldn't be _angry_ or _aggressive_."

"You don't actually want to play that card, do you?"

"What card?" Malik smirked "I'm just saying that the love of your life shouldn't be permanently angry or aggressive because then there's always a chance that their anger can lead to abuse."

"Funny how you should say that when Bakura is angrier and more aggressive than Marik."

Malik's eyes narrowed. "No, he's not."

"Oh, yes he is. Don't tell me he hasn't told you about the time he went to Juvi."

"What?"

"Yup, at least my boyfriend hasn't been to a juvenile detention centre."

"You're lying."

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Ryou asked mockingly. "I wonder why he would keep that from you. After all, you're so dependable and honest, and you would never do anything to hurt him, like… run off with another man and sleep with him for money."

Malik's vision blurred as he glared at Ryou; though in a split second he decided why get sad when he could get mad.

Silently, Ryou laughed at the fact that Malik could be so easily played. He knew exactly why Bakura had never bothered to tell Malik that he'd went to Juvi. It was so obvious; Malik had never asked.

"I hate you!" Malik screamed as he lunged at Ryou.

Hopping off the couch, Ryou couldn't wipe the smug grin off his face as he watched Malik get ready to explode… or burst into tears. It was a little too early to be able to tell which he would do. "What's wrong? Are you upset that your beloved Bakura kept something from you? Well, I told you not to play that card."

"You're such a bitch!" Malik screamed at him in anger.

"Yes, but I'm only Marik's bitch. Can you say the same about Bakura?" Ryou snickered as he grabbed his school supplies and darted into the study room to type up their assignment. He really didn't need Malik's help with it anyways; their points were self-explanatory.

* * *

The next day of health class was engaging enough to keep everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry." Ryou stared in shock at Ushio as he apologized.

"For what?"

"Bullying you on your first day here." As whispers started to engulf the classroom, Ryou took a good look at Ushio and shook his head in amusement from what he saw.

Both of his eyes were black; though his right eye was in better shape than his left one. He face was covered in bruises and though he was standing straight, he was clearly favouring his left leg. To make matters worse, his uniform was also torn in places which made Ryou wonder whether or not Ushio owned another set.

"It's okay, Ushio." He mumbled and went back to reading over the assignment he had finished. As Ushio walked away, he glanced up at Marik and blew him a kiss before going back to what he'd been doing.

A few minutes later, Mai walked in and she observed her class in irritation. "Okay, class, time to hand in your assignments."

"Mrs. Kujaku, is it possible for us to have another day? We barely had any time to work on it yesterday?" somebody from the back of the class asked.

"No."

"But why?"

"Because I said so."

The class began to complain loudly; some even going as far as to yell at her that she was being unfair.

"Everybody, sit down and shut up!" Mrs. Kujaku finally yelled in frustration. "For pissing me off, this assignment is now worth five percent of your mark, and you'll be presenting it."

"You can't do that!" Anzu cried.

"I just did." Mrs. Kujaku sneered at them.

"I bet you're only being like this because your date was a total flop last night."

"Bakura." Mrs. Kujaku growled.

"I mean wasn't the guy a total freak, he did snake impressions, right?"

"Bakura!" Atem cried, "Shut up! I'm your partner, so whatever marks are taken off of your assignment is taken off of mine!"

"And the ass didn't even pay!" Bakura laughed. "He just left you with that huge ass bill!"

"Bakura, Atem! You guys are up first!" Mrs. Kujaku screamed.

"Fine." Bakura snickered as he sauntered to the front of the class. "The perfect life partner is Malik Ishtar."

Atem opened his mouth to object and do damage control for the presentation when someone beat him to it. "In what universe is a murdering slut the perfect life partner?" Marik inquired.

Silence reigned the classroom as everyone turned to stare at Malik who was frozen in shock.

Ryou blinked at the question and wondered if he would ever understand why Marik considered Malik to be a murderer.

"Malik is not a slut." Bakura growled in a low voice.

"You're right." Marik said calmly. "Technically he's a whore since he receives money in exchange for sexual favours."

"Just because unlike Ryou, Malik actually puts out doesn't make him a whore." Bakura snarled as he slowly stalked towards Marik.

"But because he puts out for you and everyone else who has money does make him a whore." Marik sneered as he stood up and looked down his nose at Bakura.

"You're just mad because my boyfriend is better than yours."

"Oh yes, because everyone would prefer the used whore over Ryou."

"Oh, you don't actually think Ryou was a virgin when you met him, do you?" Marik's reply stopped on his tongue as he heard this, and a quick glance at Ryou confirmed this to be true. "You mean he didn't tell you about his first time?"

"Bakura, shut up!" Ryou screamed as he jumped to his feet. "You're taking this too far! Why would you—" He was cut off when a fist to the face sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Why don't you shut up? I want to hear this; you're always acting like you're better than me. And now that it looks like everyone's going to know that you're just a dirty little whore you want it to stop?" Malik yelled.

"Now, where was I?" Bakura snickered. "Oh yes, Ryou's first time. He was only thirteen–"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Ryou screamed as tears streamed down his face.

Bakura turned around to give Ryou a dark smirk, "Make me, whore."

Ryou jumped up to his feet and shoved past everyone until he was out of the classroom.

"As I was saying—"

_SNAP!_ "Shut the fuck up!"

Everyone whipped around to stare at Mrs. Kujaku, a broken meter stick was clenched tightly in her fist; the other half resting by her feet.

"Class is over. Bakura, Malik, and Marik you are to stay behind for…" she trailed off as she looked at where Marik had been standing last.

He was gone.

**TBC**

Well this took me forever and a half to get done. In my defense I had writer's block which disappeared for the last half of the chapter… But it's done, and I have one more week to pump out two more chapters. Wish me luck!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. Confessions or Crossing the Line

Confessions or Crossing the Line

Marik darted up the stairs, following the faint sounds of crying that were gradually becoming louder the closer he became. A small yelp up ahead caused him to speed up and as he dashed through the hallways he was unsurprised to come across Ryou, crying and sprawled across the floor.

"Ryou." he murmured, his voice barely loud enough to heard by the teenager sobbing on the floor. Walking over to Ryou he crouched by the teen and gently pulled him up. Brushing the hair and tears away from his face, Marik rested their foreheads together before finally speaking again. "Ryou, what's wrong?"

"I never –_hic_- I never wanted you to know. At least –_hic_- at least not like this." He mumbled through his sobs. He wrapped his arms around Marik and tried to merge their flesh together so that they would always be together.

"Why didn't you want me to know?" Marik whispered as he scooped the male up into his arms and made his way out of the school and into the parking lot.

"I didn't –_hic_- I didn't want you to think I was a whore."

Marik didn't answer for a while as he made his way to the car. Calmly, he opened the back door and he climbed in with Ryou still clutched in his arms. After a bit of maneuvering he managed to arrange them relatively comfortably in the back of the car.

"Why would I think that?"

"Because –_hic_- because of what he did to me."

"What did he do to you?"

Ryou began crying hysterically. Marik wasn't able to understand most of what he said only a few words coherent and all of them he wished he hadn't heard.

"Ryou, you're crying too hard. I can't understand you when you cry like this."

"It's not fair!"

"What's not fair?"

"This! I'm not supposed to be like this anymore! I'm supposed to be over it! The doctor said I was fine now!"

"Ryou, it's okay, talk to me. No matter what happened I'll never think that you're anything less than Aka Ryou."

"But –_hic_- you don't even know who Aka Ryou really is."

"Yes, I do. I know practically everything there is to know about Aka Ryou."

"What makes –_hic_- what makes you say that? How –_hic_- how do you know that?" Ryou sobbed uncontrollably.

"I know… I know because… I know because I'm in love with Aka Ryou."

Silence. Ryou sniffled a few times, unable to believe that Marik had been the one to say it first. Ryou had always thought that he would have been the one to say it first, and that he'd have to use several underhanded methods to get Marik to make the same admission. It made him feel really good to hear Marik say it, but it also made him feel horrible for being unable to stop crying long enough to tell him why he was so upset.

"I love you too." he finally managed to choke out before bursting into tears once more.

"I know." Marik mumbled as he pulled Ryou closer.

Ryou continued to wail at the top of his lungs and Marik decided that maybe it would be best to let him cry.

That decided he let Ryou wallow in his sadness, holding onto him so that Ryou wouldn't drown in his despair. Eventually, he realized, Ryou would become as the doctor had said. For now, all he needed to do was cry.

A good cry always made him feel better. Even though he didn't have any more tears to shed.

* * *

"Bakura! How could you do that to Ryou?" Mai's cry bounced off the walls of the mostly empty classroom.

Bakura shrugged, never bothering to turn around to look at Mai. He kept his back to her just as it had been throughout his entire exchange with Marik.

"I would imagine you would never bring that up again. Aren't you ashamed of yourself for what happened then?"

"No."

"It's not Bakura's fault Ryou can't handle the heat. He's always dishing shit out like this but he can never take it." Malik sneered.

Mai snarled inwardly as she realized that Malik had no idea what he was talking about and Bakura obviously just didn't care.

"No, Malik, he went way too far with this. Do you hear me, Bakura, you went too far this time!"

"Good, that ought to keep the little slut in line."

"What did you just say?"

No reply.

Mai sighed a little as she made her way over to Bakura and she gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "Bakura, look at me when I talk to you." Tugging on one of his shoulders she managed to get him to face her, but one look into his eyes had her gasping and stumbling back a few paced. "What—how—but— You're not Bakura!" she finally exclaimed.

"Oh no, looks like my secrets out." The voice was mocking as it left his lips. "Let's get one thing clear, _Ms. Kujaku_." Everything about him seemed to be so incredibly sarcastic in that moment. "Ryou is mine. He doesn't do anything I don't want him to do or else he gets punished. Recently he's been acting out, therefore he will be punished."

"Bakura, what are you talking about?" Malik inquired as he watched his boyfriend with a confused gaze. He took a few steps closer and was surprised when Mai gently shoved him back a few paces and blocked his view of Bakura with her body.

Mai held her chin up high as she stared down "Bakura". "That's what you think, because you know what? I'm going to call Shaadi and you're going to disappear once more."

"I didn't disappear. I never will, you can't banish the darkness now can you."

"Oh, yeah? Just watch me."

"What are you guys talking about?" Malik grumbled as he pushed past Mai to walk over to Bakura. "You okay?" Malik asked as he watched Bakura's eyes cloud over for a minute before he began looking around the classroom.

"The fuck? Class end already?"

"Bakura, what are you talking about? You're bit of drama with Marik had Mai ending the class as fast as she could."

Bakura blinked confused at him for a minute and turned to look at the clock. "About twenty minutes give or take." he muttered quietly to himself.

"What's that?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, Bakura, tell me! Or I won't put out for you!"

Bakura started laughing so hard, he thought he might actually be sick. "Yeah, because you'll be able to hold out, right?"

"Shut up, Bakura! I _can_ go without sex for a few days!"

"Bullshit! I'm calling bullshit on that!"

"Damnit, Bakura! I can do it!"

As she watched them, a small smile made its way to her face. Honestly, Malik seemed like the perfect match for Bakura… which is what she used to think about Ryou. Ignoring those depressing thoughts, she moved onto the more urgent ones.

Despite what she had said, his last words before he vanished continued to echo on the walls on her skull. '_I will never disappear. You can't banish the darkness._' Because deep down, she knew that he was right. They would never be able to get rid of him completely. No matter how hard they tried he would never vanish completely, because he was in a sense, the darkness that lingered in Bakura's heart. At best, they would only be able to merge Zorc and Bakura together, and that would only happen if they were lucky. From there they would only be able to pray to God and hope that He would offer them a solution.

**TBC**

Yep and another one bites the dust. Sorry, that the chapter is a little on the short side, but at least a new one is up. Right, right? Yeah… So, as always, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! One more chapter to go until I meet my deadline! Damn I feel proud of myself, I might actually meet this one… at least for this story…


	9. An Unexpected Ally or Unafuckinggreeable

An Unexpected Ally or an Una-fucking-greeable Alliance 

Two days had passed since the incident at school. The rumour mill was still buzzing and Ryou was still embarrassed to show his face in public. Every time he walked down the hall, there was someone staring at him, whispering about him. According to the grape vine, he was easy and would play the part of the blushing virgin in anyone's fantasy if they knew the codeword. He blamed this whole mess on Bakura and his inability to keep his mouth shut.

Malik, on the other hand, had to deal with the same thing. Though instead of having guys leer at him with a smirk, most people flinched away at the sight of him. Each of them giving him narrowed suspicious looks as if he were some kind of criminal. Simply because the rumour mill stated that he had killed a man after he refused to sleep with him. He cursed Marik again for getting him into this situation, and he would have continued to curse him if he hadn't bumped into someone.

Ryou and Malik stared at each other a moment before narrowing their eyes into matching glares. After attempting to stare down each other for a moment they walked around each other and went their separate ways.

**- DtCW –**

Malik grumbled as he headed towards the school exit. Bakura had claimed to have something to do after school, and so that meant he had no choice but to either brave the house on his own, or hang around until late when he was sure Bakura would be there.

As a cold breeze drifted through the area he quickly decided to go home. There simply was no way that he was going to wait out in the freezing cold just to avoid Ryou and Marik. Besides, the last thing he needed was for them to think that he was scared of dealing them. Because he wasn't! Fear was just a stupid emotion that stopped you from doing what needs to be done. He just found it rather exhausting to have to put up with so much stupidity on his own.

"Alright, I'll see you later when you come home, Marik." Malik paused from where he was to see Ryou lean in to a car to give someone, whom he assumed to be Marik, a kiss. "Try not to stay out too late."

Seconds later he watched as a few of his peers scampered over to Ryou as the car pulled out of the parking lot. "So, Ryou, are you walking home today?"

"Yes, it would appear so."

"Well we're leaving now. Do you want to walk with us?"

"Sure, that sounds fun!" Ryou gave them a bright smile.

Seeing them together filled Malik with an uncontrollable feeling of jealousy. He didn't think it was fair that after a little less than two weeks Ryou had so many friends while he had none. Not that he wanted any! He never wanted to be close to anyone again, because if he did get close to them, they would be able to hurt him as easily as Marik had.

With a silent huff he stormed off towards the house, at least he wouldn't have to deal with both Marik and Ryou.

**- DtCW –**

Ryou waved lightly at Yuugi and the others as he split away from them to head to his house. Silently he was dreading having to deal with both Malik and Marik, but it was cold outside and there was no way he was hanging around outside just so he didn't have to deal with them. Besides, he wasn't Marik, so it wasn't like he could take them both on at the same time. After all, fear could be a good thing. It helped keep him from acting reckless.

As another cold breeze rushed down the street, Ryou picked up his pace to a light jog to speed up his journey home. As he was approaching a street corner, he noticed a black van sitting right by the crosswalk with its back doors open. Unfortunately, a large building blocked off his vision of what was around the corner. Sighing, slightly to himself he turned his light jog into a full out sprint seconds before he was lined up with the building.

He heard a swear as a man who'd lunged at him, from the blind spot the building had provided, ended up missing him and tumbling straight into the open door of the van. Ryou smirked to himself. As if he'd be stupid enough to fall for that… again.

No matter what his father and Bakura's mother said, he absoulutely refused to believe that they were not somehow connected to the mafia. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the occasional person try to kidnap him.

With a little bounce in his step, Ryou slowed back down to a jog as he noticed his house come into view. However, in his pride of avoiding his would-be kidnappers, he failed to notice the silver sports car slowly following him.

**- DtCW –**

Ryou still had the grin on his face as he entered the house, one that became wider as he noticed Malik's shoes, but there were no signs of Bakura's footwear anywhere. With a giggle, Ryou placed his shoes in the closet by the door, before moving Malik's in there as well. Today, he could tell was going to end in a great way.

Humming softly he entered the kitchen, and blinked in confusion as he saw Malik standing in front of the stove, gently stirring the pot filled with… something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, and with the way that it was bubbling and the rather terrified expression on Malik's face, it was clear Malik wasn't sure what it was either. Ryou continued to watch in amusement as Malik continued to stir the pot, occasionally leaning forward to sniff it, before reeling back in disgust. Suddenly it happened. One of the bubbles seemed to reach out of the pot to try and grab at Malik who screamed in terror and through the pot across the kitchen.

Ryou lost it.

He started laughing so hard, and Malik whipped around to glare at him. "The fuck are you laughing at, it wasn't funny!"

Still giggling, Ryou managed to regain some of his composure. "So here what we're going to do. You're going to clean that up," he said snickering, "and I will make us something that we can eat because it won't, you know, try to eat us first."

Malik almost sneered at Ryou and refused, but thought better of it. Neither he nor Bakura had any idea how to cook and so the thought of some real food sounded amazing. "Fine." he grudgingly agreed.

"How does broiled zucchini and potato with parmesan crust and lasagna with veggie noodles sound?"

Malik heart actually stopped as his mouth began to water. Suddenly, Ryou didn't seem like such a bad person. "Fine, it sounds fine." His response came out a little breathier than he would have liked, and Ryou smirked at him and gave him a knowing look. But there was no way in hell that he was about to fuck this up because Ryou was offering to make him real food, and man was he hungry.

For a moment there was silence and suddenly the kitchen was filled with noise as the two of them moved about to get things done. It wasn't long before Malik had finished cleaning the mess he had made, and somehow he had ended up helping Ryou with the cooking. It wasn't so bad, actually helping Ryou instead of fighting with him.

**- DtCW –**

About two or three hours later, the cooking was done and after serving Malik, Ryou went about putting the rest of the food away. After a moment, Ryou called Malik to get his attention. "Your lunch," he said gesturing to one container, "_his_ lunch, and _his_ dinner." He showed Malik exactly where he put their meals in the fridge to avoid any future mix-ups, before placing his own lunch and Marik's meals in a different location.

Malik nodded his head in acknowledgment as he set the table, glad to have something to decent to eat for once. He sat down and grinned when Ryou walked by and placed a hot drink down beside him, before moving around the table and sitting in his seat to take a sip of his own drink.

Malik took a sip and almost burst into tears as his taste buds ran away to heaven. "What is this?" He gasped as he looked at Ryou.

"Brazilian Chocolate drink" Ryou smiled at him.

Malik nodded his head, before digging into his meal. One bite in, and he began to wonder if Ryou was secretly a god in human flesh. He almost continued eating, when a thought popped into his head. "This is really good, Ryou." Malik flashed Ryou a disarming smile when the boy looked up at him suspiciously. "You should cook more often."

Ryou eyes widened as he caught onto what Malik was trying to do. "Maybe, and perhaps if we're getting along I'll even share some with you." he smirked, watching as Malik scowled slightly at the table.

"Yeah," he grumbled, "if we're getting along." Well, Malik sighed, his plan had been to butter Ryou up and get the boy to cook for him more often, but apparently Ryou had seen right through him.

After that they ate silently and it wasn't long before they were washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen back up. Grabbing the bottle of oil he had forgotten to put away earlier Ryou blinked as he heard an odd sound.

"Did you hear that?" Ryou asked.

"Hear what?"

"That sound… I think it was coming from the front door."

"Maybe Bakura or Marik arrived." Malik rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Suddenly they heard a thud and the rattling of the doorknob.

"I don't think it's either of them." Ryou said nervously, clutching the oil bottle closer to his chest.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the thought of someone at the door."

"Well, I'm sorry, but if it were Marik or Bakura they would have used their keys and gotten in here already!"

"So! What does it matter, some people probably have the wrong house and will be gone in a moment or two."

"Or it's a bunch of crooks trying to break into the house, so they can steal our stuff and kill us!"

"Yes, because that's the most likely and logical explanation. You're so paranoid."

"I am not!" Ryou yelled. "I'm cautious there's a difference!"

"Well in your case, the line between cautious and paranoid is rather blurred!"

"Excuse me! Just because I think someone's trying to break into our house, I'm paranoid? Whoever it is, is still at the door! If it was someone at the wrong house they would have realized it by now!"

"For fuck sakes!" Malik screamed. "I'll go check who is at the door if it'll make you shut the fuck up!"

"Go right ahead, but if someone slashes your throat while you're opening the door don't come crying to—fuck! Run!"

Malik whipped around to stare at the front door, and gulped at the sight of a few men in suits as the door swung wide open.

"Damn, if we'd only waited a few moments longer the blond would've opened the door for us." one of the men chuckled as he flipped open a switchblade, and ran his tongue along it length.

"Shit!" Malik cried as he took off after Ryou. Both of them scrambled up the stairs, and as they were rounding a corner the bottle in Ryou's hand almost knocked him in the head. "Why are you running around with that fucking thing?" he shrieked at him.

"What?" Ryou mumbled. "Oh!" His eyes brightened as he took notice of the bottle in his hand.

"Well, boys, why don't we give them a few minutes to hide upstairs? It's not like they can do anything else up there."

"Sure, boss, a game of 'Hide and Seek' sounds fun."

"Sounds good to me too." Ryou whispered to Malik. Darting back around the corner he kept his body as low as possible as he untwisted the cap from the oil and poured it down the stairs. He watched as the liquid slowly but steadily began to cover the stairs, but shortly after he realized that there wasn't enough oil in the bottle to properly coat the stairs.

Malik popped out of nowhere with body wash and squirted it down the stairs as well. He had just enough to help finish coating half of the staircase. "I guess it's a good thing that we use a relatively clear soap." he murmured as he began dragging Ryou back around the corner, so that they could eavesdrop without being seen.

"Well, boys, I do believe it's time to grab Ryou and make our getaway. His bodyguard should be coming along in about an hour."

"But, boss, what about the blond? Shouldn't we take care of him?"

Malik eyes widened slightly and Ryou paled at the conversation.

"If one of you wants the blond, go ahead and grab him. Just remember, keeping him alive will come out of your pockets."

"Yes sir!"

"We should probably go?" Ryou whispered to Malik.

Malik didn't bother to make a smartass remark as he dragged Ryou into the master bedroom, and shoved the boy into the closet before crawling in behind him.

A few seconds later they heard footsteps making their way up the stairs. "Fuck!" someone screamed, which was followed by a series of yells, crashes, and thuds.

"The little shits coated the stairs."

"Get the fuck off me!"

"I can't believe all you clowns were taken out." More footsteps began climbing the stairs. "Ryou, blondie, come out, come out, wherever you are." 'Boss' called.

"Oh, shit!" Ryou whispered. "He made it up the stairs."

"Really, and here I thought he was outside dancing the Conga." Malik sneered at Ryou.

"Well, then it's a good thing I cleared this up for you. I wouldn't want you to be confused when he found us." Ryou shot back.

"Trust me, I wouldn't be confused. I'd be too busy picking your jaw off the floor as you stood here in shock."

"Well, it won't be so shocking if he finds us, now would it? Seeing as how you won't shut up, your voice is going to lead him right to us!"

"My voice will lead him to us? You're the one that started talking!"

"Well I'm sorry that I panicked and WHISPERED something to you!"

"You should be, you stupid, little –" The closet door slammed open. The tall blond man in front of them smirked, his sunglasses glinted. "Oh shit." Malik finished lamely.

"Your bandana doesn't match your clothes." Ryou said after a second in reference to the American bandana wrapped around his head.

"Oh really now." The trio continued to stare at each other for another moment when suddenly the male lunged and grabbed them both.

With a chuckle he slung them both over his shoulder and walked back towards the stairs. As soon as they were close to the stairs, Malik lashed out, and managed to get one of his legs to connect perfectly with the man's groin. "Fuck!"

Dropping them both the man knelt over to grab at his precious cargo, when Malik sprung into action and shoved him down the stairs. Twisting slightly the man caught Malik by the shirt as he fell, causing Malik to lose his balance and stumble down a few steps. Naturally, the slippery steps almost sent him the rest of the way down the stairs, but he was grabbed by the arm.

He managed to avoid giving Ryou a nasty glare as he was tugged up the stairs, but couldn't help but growl in frustration as he slipped and almost fell again.

"Why are you having such a hard time getting up these stairs?" Ryou muttered under his breath to himself. Unfortunately, Malik heard him.

"Maybe because you went and made them slippery."

"Well, I'm sorry," Ryou stopped as he yanked Malik up the remaining few steps between them, as the men at the bottom of the stairs tried to ascend them once more. "For trying to make sure that the guys who want to nab us couldn't get to us!"

"You should be! What idiot coats the floor in oil! We're lucky they haven't set them on fire and smoked us out of the house."

Silence. The men all smirked as they looked at one another.

"Thanks for the idea, blondie." 'Boss', the man who'd recovered from the knee to his groin said with a smirk.

"Yeah, Malik, thanks for the idea!" Ryou screeched at him.

"So, any of you boys got a light?" 'Boss' asked.

"Right here, boss!"

One of the smaller men reached out to hand the male a lighter.

Seconds before he could hand it to the bandana wearing blond, he went sprawling across the room, landing with a loud _thud_ as he hit the wall.

"Marik!" Ryou cried in relief as he saw his boyfriend.

"Shit!" 'Boss' yelled. "Why the fuck is he here so early? He wasn't su—" The man was cut off by a pale fist burying its way into his face.

"Hey, Bakura, what took you so long?" Malik shouted.

With two of their men down, one of them being their boss, the other two guys didn't look so sure of themselves.

Marik calmly cracked his neck. "You have five seconds to grab your trash and get the fuck out."

The two men sprung into action and grabbed their fallen. "What the fuck!" Bakura cried. "You're just going to let them walk out of here!"

"You're free to chase them down if you like." Marik sneered at him as he walked passed the struggling men to head up the stairs to Ryou. Upon reaching the male despite the slippery stairs, Ryou gave him a sensual kiss before reaching into the male's pocket and pulling out his phone.

Pulling back he quickly dialed a number. Bringing the phone to his ears he leaned against Marik, as Bakura began to climb the stairs. "Hello, Marik?" a man answered.

"Hi, dad." Ryou responded.

"Oh, Ryou, it's you. Why are you calling from Marik's phone?"

"Because it's closest to me. Do you mind if I ask you a quick question?"

"Go right ahead."

"Is the family business related to the mafia in any way?"

"No, Ryou, we've been over this again?"

"What about the Yakuza?"

"No."

"The mob?"

"Nope."

"Then why are people trying to kidnap me again!"

"Are you okay, did they succeed?"

"No. Marik kicked their asses with a little help from Bakura."

"A little?" Bakura cried out indignantly.

"Did you guys call the police?"

"… I'll call you back, dad."

Pulling the phone away from his ear, Ryou hung up.

"Hey, Malik," Ryou began "you realize we had five minutes to coat the stairs?"

"Obviously."

"You had five minutes to coat the stairs." Bakura asked incredulously.

"Eh, they were giving us time to hide for some reason." Malik sighed as he wrapped his arms around Bakura.

"Well, that's good I guess. So the cops are on their way now?" Bakura stated.

Silence.

"You did use the time to call the cops, right"

"Bakura…" Ryou sighed.

"What?"

"Shut the fuck up." Malik snarled.

"Morons." Marik chuckled lightly.

"What did you just say?" Malik yelled at him.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're both deaf and stupid." Marik sneered at him.

"Oh hell no! You did not just say that to me."

"Sounds like he has a case of denial." Ryou snickered.

"Better a case of denial than a case of uselessness." Bakura shot at him.

"Repeat that, Bakura, I dare you to!"

Needless to say, the police weren't informed of the incidence for a long time. And so, the culprits managed to make a clean escape.

**TBC**

Yay! New chapter everyone! Wow, surprisingly I managed to type this all out in one day. Impressive I know. Well, I'm sorry it took so long, but I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Until the next time folks!


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